ICS Daily Devotions
God Is Just

James 5:11,15 (NKJV) Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful….And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

When we go through a crisis, our theological convictions will dictate how we react and pray. There are many different views on why we go through a crisis and the cause of it. In the Book of Job, we see how the Lord was displeased with the way Job’s friends have misrepresented Him before Job during his days of suffering. As such, we should make sure that we represent the Lord well and pray ourselves out of a crisis with perseverance.

First, we shouldn’t compare our lives with Job. Job lived in the Old Testament. Therefore, he didn’t have a mediator or an advocate in heaven to mitigate his case before God. He was also a gentile who had no covenant relationship with God, so he was living in hopelessness in the midst of the sufferings, but one of his greatest strengths was his perseverance in spite of the terrible ordeal. He passed the test of perseverance and refused to curse God.

We, on the other hand, have an advocate and a mediator in Jesus Christ who represents us in heaven before God. We have peace with God because Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant. We are in a better position than Job because of the current ministry of Jesus in heaven.

Second, one of the biggest arguments people usually have with reference to the suffering in the Book of Job is whether God is just. Are we getting what we deserve for the sins we have committed? One of Job’s friends even said that Job wasn’t receiving enough of what was due to him for the wrong he had done. What a torment it is when we think that we are being punished but don’t even know the cause!

God is just, but since God is holy, He has to judge the sin of mankind. However, instead of punishing us based on what we have done, He prepared a body for His son to take our place, so that it was done through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

According to the opening Scripture, God’s intention for the entire experience of Job and the Book of Job was reveal to us that He is a merciful and compassionate God. This is the single most important lesson that we can learn from Job’s experience—a revelation of God’s character, and a faith-builder for us in the midst of our own sufferings on earth.

Sermon Series: Job & I